Rolling mill



Feb. 5, 1935. 5 R 1,990,051

ROLLING MILL Filed Jan. 19, 1952 2 Sheets-She et 1 JWntM Jam/M 2 Sheets-Shet 2 ROLLING MILL Filed Jan. 19, 1952 H. 1.. SCHRECK Feb. 5, 1935.

Patented Feb. 5 1935 OFFICE I 1,990,051; ROLLING MILL f I Hans'L.Schreck, Easton, well Engineering Comp -Pa.,--assignor to Treadany,Easton, Pa., a corporation 'of Pennsylvania: Application January '19,1932; seri l No; 587574 4'Claims. (Cl. SO-56) The-present inventionrelates to rolling mills and particularly to mills of the :typein whichit necessary to very-accurately adjust the relative positions ofadjacent rollers to-cause them to define; between them, a passsuitablefor the rolling of plates, strips, or sheets which, in finishedconditiom'must conform exactly or very nearly to -predeterminedspecifications with respect to size, particularly with'respect to thick:ness. r r

, It is sometimes necessary to effect an exceed ingly iineadjustmentofatleast one of the rolls of a mill tosecurea pass of the desiredvertical dimension, and occasionally it Qis necessary to adjust-oneend,-orboth ends; of one; Of" the -rolls u w y rde el ar y th ou ni e I e fithousandth part f: -an inch 7 toasecure perfect parallelism of theroll;surfaces and ;a prqduet with exactly.- parallel, faces; Particularly.where sheets are to be rolled the [mill :should; have the capacity forvery fineadjustrnent of the rolls; and the present; invention maytherefore be; said; to be e t w r rau e u qwn dt on ;w t. he t rollingmills, vparticularly mills. for; :cold rolling.

1 Various ex d nt hav en reso ted. to he tofore by manufacturersandoperators-of rolling millsfor obtaining very, fine relative adjustmentsof the mill; rolls, such,- for instance; asthe -provision of double wormgear-reduction- -mechanis ns between the electric motor which is usuallyemployed to effect'the-adjustment and the threaded rod orscrew which -'soperatively connected to the roll bearing-blocks and by means of whichscrew movement ofthe bearingand ;rol1 is'effected; A-double-wormgearreduction mechanism, however, necessarily involves. a considerableamount of lost motion betweenthe motor and the screw 'duexto thepresence of-gnumerous bearings and play or back-lash between theintermeshing teeth of. the gearingl-o In. an appliance 91 h k nd- 93? i Qt Ps bl i ac r te indicate to the operator very smallangles f rotation ofthesadjusting screw or screws due-to the fact that,',for ayfirieadjustmentlofthe screw, its motion is' almost imperceptible and'to .thefact. that theposition of' the motorarmatiire which drives themechanism,or theanglelthrough whichthe armature rotates ineffectingthe-adjustment, do not truly. indicate the extentof the adjustmentby'reason ofthe lost motion inherent in'thereductiongearingv H The operators ofmills which are not-provided with mechanisms of the type justbrieflydescribedsometimes attempt tosecure very fineadjustments of therolls byrrotating thernuts havthreaded engagement with the rolladjustingscrews through verysmall angles by blows of a hammer. 'or sledge. Thismethod naturallyv is crude-and u' satis factory, being injurious to themechanisrn andlnever very accurate. In accordance withthepresentinvention, a mechanism is provided whereby very fineadjustmentsofathe relative positions of --the ro11s-may be obtained {quickly andaccurately and also without the abandonment of theelectric rnotor. as asource-of power for efiecting the adjustment so that theoperator-is-enabled to easily efiect any necessary adjustmentwithin afew seconds.

3 The invention contemplates the provision I in a rolling millof asleeve to encircleor-envelop each ofthe threaded rods or screws by whichroll adjustment is ordinarily secured, this sleevebeing;; interiorly:threaded so as to have threaded engagementwith the associated screw andbeing also ezgteriorly threaded soas to have threaded engagementwith theaperture in the frame or housing through-which both the sleeve and rodproject. Theexterior and interior ithreads of the sleeve arev of thesamehand but differ slightly in -lpitch.- Thus, when the sleeve is rotatedthrough one revolution, with the associated screw held againstrotation,the net longitudinal movement of the screw connected to the roll bearingis equal. to .the difference in pitch between the interior andexteriorthreads of the; sleeve. By properly choosing the relative pitchof the exterior and interior threads of the sleeve; the desiredlongitudinal movement of the screwfor each revolutionof the sleeve canbe obtained. Furthermore, means is vprovided whereby either the threadedsleeve or thescrew may be rotated at the=wil1;of theoperator, thesecondof'these members remaining stationary, thatis, not rotating,during rotation of the first. This permits the operator to hold thesleeve stationaryand vrotate the screw'if a fast movement or adjustmentof theassociated rollis desired.- A very fast movement of-theroll may beobtained by rotatin gv both-sleeve and screw at thesame time,but suchprocedure is generally unnecessary. a

y In adaptin-g' the invention-to rollingmills which vary type,functions-and details ,ofconstruction, the invention may be considerablymodified in the design and arrangement of its com-. ponent parts. In theaccompanying drawings; one ernbodimentis disclosed, but it will beappreciated byJt QSe skilled in the art that .this v is set forth by:wayof example only.

In the drawingsi- 'r'i ure 1 is topplan viewer arolling mill to o whichthe invention has been applied, one housing plate having been removed;and

Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

A portion of the housing of the mill is indicated at and the neck of theupper roll at 11, this roll neck being rotatably supported in a suitablebearing block assembly generally indicated at 12, which block isvertically movable in the guideway formed by the mutually facing,parallel, vertical surfaces 13 of the housing. It will be understoodthat the upper roll of the mill is supported at both ends in bearingblocks such as that illustrated and that roll adjusting mechanish shownin Figure 2 is duplicatedat-the opposite end of the roll. 7

On its upper surface, the bearing block 12 is provided, and at a pointdirectly above the axis of the roll 11, with a cylindrical recess withinwhich the lower end 14 of a vertically disposed screw 14 is positioned.A collar 15, the downwardly and inwardlyturned ends of which engagerecesses formed in the bearing block, is provided with a centralcylindrical aperture through which screw 14 extends, the rod being'herereduced in diameter. The lower end portion 14 of the screw has anupwardly-directed annular surface which engages the lower surface ofmember 15 so that this collar serves to transfer the weight of one halfof the roll 11 and the entire weight of the associated bearing block tothe rod 14.

Immediately above the yoke 15, the rod 14 is provided with threads 16,which threads are in engagement with correspondingly formed threads onthe interior of a sleeve member 17 which is concentric with andenvelopsthe rod. Sleeve 17 in turn has threads upon its exterior surfacewhich engage correspondingly formed threads in an outer sleeve 18rigidly secured to the frame or housing in any suitable manner, as forinstance by means of bolts 19 and washers20. If desired, the outersleeve 18 may be; dispensed with and the threads formed on the interiorof a' cylindrical opening in the horizontal upper cross piece of thehousing. It is preferred, however, to employ an outer sleeve, such as18, not only by reason of the fact that the interior of such a sleevecan be more conveniently threaded and the assembly of the various partsmore easily accomplished but also because it can be formed of materialmore suitable for a threaded member than that used in the fabrication ofthe frame or housing 10.

The sleeve 17 and screw 14 project vertically upwardly for aconsiderable distance above the top of the housing 10, and splined uponeach is a worm wheel, the worm wheel splined to the outer surface of thesleeve being indicated at 21 and that splined to the screw 14 beingindicated at 22. Meshing with the teeth of worm wheel 21 are the teethof a worm 23 fixed on a shaft 24, and meshing with the teeth of wormwheel 22 are the teeth of a worm 25 fixed on ashaft 26. Obviouslyrotation of shaft 23 will effect rotation 'of worm wheel 21 and rotationof sleeve 17, the sleeve being free to rise or fall while rotating byreason of the splined connection between the worm wheel and-sleevesurface. In a similar manner, rotation of shaft 26 will cause verticalmovement of screw 14.

The rotation of these two shafts 24 and 26 may be brought about byvarious means, but I prefer to employ electric motors. Thus, a motor isindicated at M which is connected lay-reduction gearing, includingpinion 2'1 and gear 28, to shaft 26, and when this motor M is energized,the

shaft will rotate, thus effecting rotation of the screw 14. The motor ismade reversible so the shaft may be rotated in either direction. Shaft26 extends in both directions from gear 28, and a second worm is mountedon this shaft (illustrated in dotted lines), the teeth of which meshwith those of a worm wheel mounted upon shaft 14? so that screws l4and1l4 are simultaneously revolved upon energization of the-motor M.

The sleeve 17 illustrated in Figure 2, and like- 'Wise a second andsimilar sleeve associated with screw 14 (but which is not illustrated)may also be rotated through suitable gearing from the motor N, suitablymounted upon the top of the housing. The shaft 24 is connected to thismotor by-means of gear30, pinion 31, and a magnetic clutch 32, andasecond shaft 24', similar to shaft 24, is also connected to the motorshaft through gear '33, pinion 34, and magnetic clutch 35, the shafts 24and 24 being in alignment but not connected' with each other otherwisethanthrough the motor. With both magnetic clutches 32 and 35 engaged,therefore, the motor N may be caused to rotate both sleeve 17} and thesleeveassociated with the screw 14 the sleeves moving in the samedirection of rotation. By disengaging either of the magnetic clutches,either sleeve may be rotated independently of the other and in thedesired direction, the motor N being reversible.

In the construction just described, therefore, the motor M may beenergized to effect simultaneous-rotation of the screws' 14 and 14 thesleeves associated with these screws being maintainedlockedagainst"rotatory movement by reason of the fact that the drivinggearings for such sleeves are irreversible. As a result, a quick raisingor lowering of the roll 11 occurs. By energizing the motor- N withclutches 32 and 35 engaged andmaintaining" the motor -M inactive, thesleeves-aloneare rotated, and the resulting movement of the" roll 11is-slow. Thus, in the event that the pitch of the exterior teeth of thesleeve 17 "is 1.5 inches and the'pitch of the interior thr ad is 1.45inches, the vertical movement of the screw 14 during a-single'revolutionof the sleeve will be only .05 inch or the difference between thepitches'of the outer and inner threads of the sleeve. If the sleeve isgiven only a partial rotation, the travel of the associated screw is, ofcourse, reduced, andby the mechanism just described it isquite possibleto raise or lower either screw the desired fraction of an inch, howeversmall, without difficulty, or to give both screws a simultaneousvertical adjustment. A suitable device for indicating either therotation of the sleeve or the extent of vertical movement of the screwsmaybe utilized if'desired.

It will'be' apparentto'b'ne skilled in the art that the design andarrangement of the sleeve and'associated 'parts-may be considerablyvaried without departure from the spirit and scope of the inventionHaving; thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent iszir 1. In a rollingrnill, incombination, a frame, a roll mounted'insaiid frame, and mechanism forraising and lowering the roll; said mechanism includinga pair of sleeveshaving threaded engagement with the frameand a pair of screw shafts eachhaving one end operatively connected respectively with one endof theroll, and having threaded engagement" with said sleeves, the threadedconnections of said sleeves with the frame-and screw respectively beingof the same hand but differing in pitch, means for rotating said screwshafts and said sleeves, comprising a worm wheel splined to each of saidscrew shafts and to each of said sleeves, a worm arranged for meshingengagement with each of said worm wheels, a source of power operativelyconnected to the Worms associated with said screw shafts, and means foralternatively or simultaneously connecting a source of power with thetwo worms associated with said sleeves, whereby fine adjustments of theroll may be effected at either or both ends thereof.

2. In a rolling mill, in combination, a frame, a roll mounted in saidframe, a mechanism for raising and lowering the roll, said mechanismincluding a member having threaded engagement with the frame, a screwhaving one end operatively connected to the roll and having threadedengagement with said member, the threaded connections of said memberwith said frame and screw, respectively, being of the same hand butdiffering in pitch, a worm wheel splined to the screw, a second wormwheel splined to said member, worms meshing with said worm wheelsrespectively, and a power source connected to each of said worms wherebyeither may be actuated at the will of the operator.

3. In a rolling mill, in combination, a frame, a roll bearing blockslidably mounted in the frame, and means for adjusting the position ofsaid block including a rotatable screw having one end attached to theblock in such manner that the block may be raised or lowered as desiredupon rotation of the screw, a rotatable sleeve concentric with andenveloping the screw, said sleeve having threaded engagement interiorlywith the screw and exteriorly with the frame, the threads of the sleevebeing of the same hand respectively but differing in pitch, and means toindependently rotate the screw and sleeve as desired, wherebyadjustments of varying degree of fineness may be attained.

4. In a rolling mill, in combination, a frame, a roll bearing blockslidably mounted in the frame, a threaded screw having one end attachedto the block in such manner that the block may be raised or lowered asdesired upon rotation of said screw, means for rotating said screw, saidmeans including an irreversible gearing whereby said screw is lockedagainst rotation when said means is inactive, a sleeve concentric withand enveloping said screw and having threads formed thereon engagingwith the threads of the screw, said sleeve also having threads whichengage the frame for positively raising and lowering the sleeve uponrotation thereof, and means for rotating said sleeve, said lastmentioned means including an irreversible gearing, whereby said blockmay be raised or lowered by the rotation of either saidscrew or saidsleeve or by simultaneously rotating both screw and sleeve, whereby saidroll may be positively positioned and maintained in desired position.

HANS L. SCHRECK.

